Chrono Trigger coming to DS in North America this year

An enhanced port of the SNES classic Chrono Trigger has been confirmed for the …

While classic games in the Final Fantasy series have seen remake after remake, the Chrono series has not been so lucky. The classic Super Nintendo RPG Chrono Trigger has only been ported once to the PlayStation, and that version was plagued by some unbearable load times. But it looks like Square-Enix has heard the cries of the Internet, and will be bringing the game to the Nintendo DS.

The game was first leaked by Japanese magazine Shonen Jump, but since then, a North American teaser site has been launched showing that the game will be coming our way. Unfortunately, due to the quality of the scan, it's hard to tell much about the port. What you can determine, however, is that the game will be coming out in Japan this year, meaning that a North American version should be hitting in 2009.

Chrono Trigger was created by a "dream team" of JRPG developers, including FF series creator Hironobu Sakaguchi and Dragon Quest creator Yuuji Hori. Character design was done by famed manga artist Akira Toriyama (Dragon Ball), while the majority of the soundtrack was created by up-and-coming composer Yasunori Mitsuda. The game features a number of unique gameplay twists, including a time travel theme and multiple endings that encouraged multiple play-throughs.

With the enormous popularity of the DS and the not-so-secret desire of gamers to get their hands on Chrono Trigger without having to pay obscene amounts of money on eBay, it seemed like only a matter of time before the game was finally ported to the little handheld. That doesn't make it any less exciting, though. We can only hope the other rumors about a Radical Dreamers revisit come true.

Update: Square-Enix has officially announced the title, and surprisingly stated that it is coming to North America this holiday season. The updated version "maintains all of the game's original elements and spirit while introducing the portability, dual-screen presentation and Touch-Screen functionality of Nintendo DS." A new dungeon and wireless play are also mentioned, though it is unclear whether or not the game will get the same visual overhaul that Final Fantasy III and Final Fantasy IV have enjoyed.